9 Killer Telemedicine Apps That Will Revolutionize Healthcare

The days of the house-call-making country doctor might just be back, due in part to emerging technology.

Not only could telemedicine systems bring doctors to patients in far-flung areas, but it could also decrease wait times and hospital stays, as well as bring world-class medicine to the developing world.

If you’re not already using such technology, take a look at our guide to off-the-shelf applications that could have you and your team diagnosing in the sub-arctic, sub-Saharan Africa or the middle of the Pacific with time and budget to spare…

1. Skype
The world’s most prolific video conferencing tool is the first software many turn to, whether you’re a parent chatting with your kid at college, or Oprah talking to a guest on national TV. But the tool has also long been used informally in the science and medical community for consultations and other interactions between colleagues.

2. Skype ER?A new Skype Attendant test program promises to turn the seat-of-the-pants freeware into a serious (and possibly reliable) emergency tool for virtual access to doctors for patients in remote areas. Users on skypejournal.com surmise that the new service could provide:

3. Webcam MDThis up-&-coming technology makes use of diagnostic handheld USB camera/light (think of that salt-shaker-like scanner Dr McCoy had in Star Trek) that patients run over the part of their body they need a doctor to look at. Though you need to actually have the device, the company claims the service will cut wait time to a fraction on both the doctor and patient side. Check out their demo video:http://www.webcammd.com/

4. Robots lend a hand (or twelve) from afarSurgery robots such as da Vinci can have as many hands as they need to and each hand can be specially outfitted to hold a specific surgical tool. The surgeon controlling these offspring of the robotic arm on the space shuttle can be in another room or another country.http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/products/davinci_surgicalsystem/index.aspx

5. eTime’s home endoscope Imagine patients hooking up their own USB-based endoscope and performing an examination for a doctor hundreds or thousands of miles away…The device could show doctors close-up views of possible skin cancer lesions, or – in a pitch – live scans of, um, anywhere else on their person a patient is willing to stick this handy device.http://www.e-h-e.cn/en/index.asp

6. HD telepresence without a dedicated line
A quasi-competitor to Skype, Vidyo offers rock-solid HD video, with all the bells and whistles of high-end videoconferencing setups (ability to display multiple video windows, see and control information across networks, etc..) Though this one isn’t free, it’s one of the best bargains going for getting into serious medical video conferencing and telepresence.http://www.vidyo.com

9. Telepresence for heart monitoringThis Bluetooth monitor that measures electrical signals from your heart could text your local hospital if you are about to have a heart attack. The application produces an electrocardiogram and sends it (with an alert) via text message.http://www.news-medical.net/news/2007/07/18/27774.aspx

Apps 1, 2, 7 and 8 will need to be to be HIPAA compliant. Achieving that capability is not trivial. Complete controls governing access to patient information and online collaborations, safe/secure infrastructure, and the ability to audit who used the system, what was accessed, how the information was modified or deleted, and when all of this took place , are all components of those HIPAA requirements.

Apps 3, 4 and 5 are most effective when incorporated into the communication strategies noted in 1, 2, 7 and 8.

Finally, 6 is coming, but there still needs to be significant improvement in the a/v codecs across all platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux).

Exciting things are on the horizon, and Interactive Care is working to drive real solutions for thin client / hosted telemedicine applications. The balance is making access ubiquitous, while providing a true medical application with HIPAA compliance and interoperability with other medical apps (PACS, EMR/EHR, diagnostics, etc.).

Check out 3G Doctor – a service we launched in the UK and Ireland that uses 3G Video Mobiles to provide the informed advice of a General Practitioner to adult patients for non emergency concerns and second opinions.

Excellent overview of exciting emerging apps. I will feature your cogent analysis at MedTech-IQ, http://medtechiq.ning.com/, an international Web 2.0 community dedicated to the advancement of emerging medical technology.

Thank you for the great mention. We appreciate getting the recognition that while not free, Vidyo is deliveing significant value. Not only for the HD quality, but multipoint (not available on Skype which is only point to point) and the resiliency to packet loss that is required to maintain high quality over the Internet.

Michael, the VidyoDesktop is available today on both MacOS and Windows, and you can expect additonal OS’s to be supported.

Appart from revolutionizing care, we should look at revolutionizing the entire care cycle; from individual (patient) to care giver to hospital to insurance companies to governments.
Each of us has to play their role and I am delighted to see more and more consumer devices / apps on the market that enable individuals to take more control over their lifestyles. Philips launched DirectLife, another company has lauched an emergency response system and many other example exist. each makes it clear to me that by stimulating healthier living we have the key solution to relieve our healthcare system from the threats it is facing.

Skype uses AES 256 encryption for all transmitted data, which effectively removes the possibility of wiretapping for all but the most sophisticated and criminally-motivated individuals. Also, recall that the HIPAA privacy rule is intentionally vague and specifically allows for flexibility in the safeguarding of information.

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